Lauren

Ah I see! 
 
I can see straightaway why such crazy ARB sizes would cause a problem! What were they thinking really? 

Ah, so you've just uprated the front ARB? 
 
If that's the case I'm not suprised that yoiu've increased the understeer. Better to increase the rear ARB's first, if that's what you want to do. 22/18 will probably be an absolute disaster unless you're entering a drift championship. 
 
As for getting the rear end out as long as you keep the grip levels down, then you can still hang the back out pretty well.

Interesting thoughts on the ARB's. 
 
How much is the rear up over standard? I thought the OEM rear ARB was 14mm?

I've had some DBA Performance discs and Hawk pads delivered from Fensport. Had them fitted locally, and had a bit of a photoshoot to celebrate.
 

 

 

LOL! 
 
Well in fairness that FB page tells me nothing. A couple of pics of the wheels off and erm, that's it!

The point you have to remember is that the stock crank pulley would not have a harmonic damper if it did not need it.
 
You take your chances, your engine etc. 
 
Until you've done a decent amount of mileage with a lightweight pulley it is difficult to tell if it's an issue. Low mileage race cars don't really give you that info. 
 
I must admit, I see no appeal in being a guinea pig.

The point you have to remember is that the stock crank pulley would not have a harmonic damper if it did not need it.
 
You take your chances, your engine etc. 
 
Until you've done a decent amount of mileage with a lightweight pulley it is difficult to tell if it's an issue. Low mileage race cars don't really give you that info. 
 
I must admit, I see no appeal in being a guinea pig.

Like the last one the best I think.I do think the logo without the car bit will be great for merchandise (ie clothing) and the like.

Lovely pics, Will.
 
Where are those alloys?

I don't know what 'clutch knock' is. But if you mean when you put it in first and you get a slight amount of driveline shunt, then it's the idle shaft, but they all do that. 
 
As for the revs going up and down. They all do that too. 

I can tell you James about my experience of going from OEM wheels to my TE37s which are 1.8kg lighter than stock. The car feels more alert, quicker to respond, almost like it's light on it's feet, which sounds absolutely ridiculous but it's what always springs to mind! 
 
A lighter wheel will mean faster reacting suspension, which can be run softer, also it will accelerate and decelerate more quickly. It's a win, win, though the only slight downside can be the ride is a little more fidgety. In terms of performance though it's win, win. 
 
I actually thought I'd never be able to tell when I put the lightweight wheels on, but the difference surprised me! 
 
Yes, 8.3kg if they're the same as Rota's is what I'd expect, but it's still lighter, so you've got 50% of the gain I have with my even lighter wheels. 

*cough* Deposit paid. Delivery in a fortnight. :-D

Cheers for the advice etc. it was never in doubt after the test drive, but I've got my affairs in order and placed an order. :-)

I should stand out here as billy-no-options, as going for bog standard primo in red. If they did the Japanese spec one with steel wheels here I'd have probably had that. ;-)

I'm a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to toys in cars - basically so long as it has air con and will connect to my iPod - don't care about anything else.

Anyway - give me a fortnight and I can join in properly...

Richard (Riceburner) very kindly provided me with some pictures of the fitting:-













And the only 'finished' picture I have at the moment:-



I'm hoping my new spoiler will arrive next week and I can get that fitted, the car cleaned and some better pictures next weekend.

As always, a massive thanks to Richard and the team at RRG!

To give you an idea I got 14K miles out of the rear Primacys and 25K out of the front and that includes a number of trackdays and sprints. I also admit I like going sideways. 
 
I'd play with it a bit longer before you put the 225s on and find it hardly slides at all anymore unless it's wet. 

In regard about laptimes, apart from the hypercar trio we all know about, there are not that many other cars that try to set lap records for their class. Of course exceptions like the Megane RS Trophy with the Nurburgring option box ticked is going to be more hardcore than the usual one, but you'd expect that of course. 
 
Primarily the Ring is used to test the handling with a great mix of, well everything. When you go there you often see development cars all over the place. It's an absolute mecca that place really. Just petrolhead heaven. For most cars it's about feel, balance and involvement above anything else and that's really what the Ring is all about. The best road you'll ever drive that happens to be one way and is used as a racetrack. Though it was built as a racetrack of course.

I took the 100hp on track. It was terribly flawed though as soon as you started getting above 7/10ths. Fiat put lower and much stiffer springs on but the dampers were the same as all the other models. Load it up round a long corner and it would pogo diaganolly as the dampers just could not control the springs! 

Nice, looks like you went with running the stock tyres on 8" rims. I do the same with my 8" TE37's. I actually like the little bit of stretch as it keeps the sidewalls stiff which makes the car more responsive. 

Please put some pics up properly with some specs, looking at some garage's FB page doesn't really cut it.

Never been. Would like to though...

As for the Abarth - glad I owned it because absolutely ANYTHING rides well after that :-). Some people have managed to sort them a bit - Konis help - but I think that ultimately they were trying to turn it into something it wasn't and I lost patience with it. (I always liked the Panda 100hp by the way - looked like a cross between a training shoe and the box it came in. In a good way)

I think you make a valid point that there's a difference between development on the Nordschleife and optimising purely to chase ring lap times...

So, today I took a deposit on my Sprintex 210 Supercharger kit, with the intention of replacing it with the bigger Sprintex 335 kit in the near future
  Just to give you an idea, this is how they compare size-wise with the 210 on the left and the 335 on the right     And it makes a CRAZY noise!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyCVyrOAKWM   The engine will have to be built to take the extra boost. Hopefully everything should come together in the next month or 2 so watch this space!

Akio Toyoda participated in the development of the GT86 at the Nurburgring:
 
http://www.tune86.com/ft-86-news/16526-toyota-86-philosophy-interview-tetsuya-tada
 
Driving the Nurburgring, well the Nordschleife is not about lap times, it's all about the drive. There is far more to the Ring than just laptimes! 

I'm cool, I'm just happy he wanted to use my car and give the gt86 a little more exposure 

Speak for yourself, i'm disappointed... I like to print the latest project pictures off and pin them to my teddies and take them to bed with me.

Actually in reference to the Nurburgring, cars that are tested on it to setup the suspension do make great road cars, it's the best track to use in that respect because it is so bumpy and much more like a road than a race track. This is why most manufacturers use it. 
 
The 86 was tested a good amount a the Nurburgring.